Tom Holland (filmmaker)

Tom Holland
Holland in 2008
Born	Thomas Lee Holland[1][2][3] (1943-07-11) July 11, 1943 (age 81) Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.
Education	Worcester Academy
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., J.D.)
Occupations	Film director screenwriter producer actor
Years active	1964–present
Notable work	Psycho II Fright Night Child's Play Thinner The Langoliers Rock, Paper, Scissors
Children	1

Thomas Lee Holland (born July 11, 1943) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, penning the 1983 sequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho,^[4] directing and co-writing the first entry in the long-running Child's Play franchise,^[5] and writing and directing the cult vampire film Fright Night.^[6] He also directed the Stephen King adaptations The Langoliers^[7] and Thinner.^[8] He is a two-time Saturn Award recipient. Holland made the jump into children’s literature in 2018 when he co-wrote How to Scare a Monster with fellow writer Dustin Warburton.

Holland was born July 11, 1943, in Poughkeepsie, New York,^[9] to Lee and Tom Holland. He attended Ossining Public High School in Ossining, New York, before transferring to Worcester Academy, where he graduated in 1962. After graduating high school, Holland attended Northwestern University for one year before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated in 1970.^[10] He later graduated from UCLA Law School with a Juris Doctor.^[11]

Holland trained as an actor at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg. Throughout the 60s and early 70s Holland appeared under the moniker of Tom Fielding in several supporting and guest star roles for both television and film, including A Walk in the Spring Rain alongside Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2009 Holland was cast for Adam Green's Hatchet II,^[12] to star alongside Danielle Harris, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, and R.A. Mihailoff.^[13] He narrated the film alongside Green at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.^[14]

Holland made his screenwriting debut with the 1978 made-for-television film The Initiation of Sarah. He made his feature film writing debut in 1982, adapting the Edward Levy novel The Beast Within into the film of the same title.^[15] That same year, he wrote Class of 1984, an urban thriller film centered on juvenile delinquency and punk subculture. The film proved controversial upon release and was heavily censored in the United Kingdom^[16] and outright banned in other countries.^[17] It has since become a cult classic.^[18][19][20]

Holland was hired by Universal Pictures to write a sequel to the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, which since its initial release had been acclaimed as not only a seminal and iconic horror film,^[21][22] but one of the greatest films of all time.^[23][24][25] Lead actor Anthony Perkins, who had previously displayed apprehension at appearing in a sequel, agreed to do the film after being impressed by Holland's screenplay.^[26] The film, directed by Richard Franklin and co-starring Meg Tilly, Robert Loggia, and Dennis Franz, opened at No. 2 at the box office (behind Return of the Jedi) and went on to gross $34 million.^[27]

Holland re-teamed with director Franklin the following year on his next film, Cloak & Dagger. Unlike their previous film, Cloak & Dagger was a spy film aimed at a younger audience, and starring Henry Thomas of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in its leading role. Despite positive critical reviews,^[28] the film was a financial failure, grossing $9,719,952 off of a 13 million dollar production budget.

Holland's directorial debut came in 1985 with the vampire horror film Fright Night. Holland first conceived of the premise during the writing of Cloak & Dagger,^[29] of a horror film fan who learns that his neighbor is a vampire. He chose to direct the film himself after being disappointed with Michael Winner's direction of his screenplay Scream for Help.^[30][31] The film was both financial and critical success, earning a rave review from Roger Ebert^[32] who wrote "Fright Night is not a distinguished movie, but it has a lot of fun being undistinguished." The film spawned a sequel in 1988 titled Fright Night Part 2, and a 2011 remake, Fright Night starring Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin. That remake also had its own sequel, Fright Night 2: New Blood, which was released in 2013. Holland was not involved in any of the sequels or the remake. On October 28, 2020, Holland confirmed that he is writing a direct sequel to the original Fright Night titled Fright Night: Resurrection and that his sequel would ignore the 1988 sequel and be a proper sequel to his 1985 film.^[33]

In 1988, Holland directed the film Child's Play, which received positive reviews from Ebert^[34] and Leonard Maltin,^[35] spawned a long-running franchise consisting of six sequels, and helped elevate its antagonist Chucky to a pop culture icon. He directed three episodes of the horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt, and returned to television films with The Stranger Within. He wrote and directed a 1996 ABC miniseries adaptation of the Stephen King novella The Langoliers, and the following year adapted King's novel Thinner into a film of the same title.

He and David Chackler founded the horror film company Dead Rabbit Films in 2009.^[36] Holland wrote and directed a horror anthology webseries titled Twisted Tales,^[37] which appeared on Fearnet in 2013 and was released on home media in 2014.^[38]

He is the father of American actor Josh Holland.^[39][40]

Year	Title	Director	Writer
1982	The Beast Within	No	Yes
	Class of 1984	No	Yes
1983	Psycho II	No	Yes
1984	Cloak & Dagger	No	Yes
	Scream for Help	No	Yes
1985	Fright Night	Yes	Yes
1987	Fatal Beauty	Yes	No
1988	Child's Play	Yes	Yes
1993	The Temp	Yes	No
1996	Thinner	Yes	Yes
2011	Fright Night	No	Story
2017	Rock, Paper, Scissors	Yes	No

Short film

• To Hell with You (2010)

Year	Title	Notes
2016	You're So Cool, Brewster! The Story of Fright Night	Documentary film; also creative consultant
	What Is Fright Night?	Documentary short films
	Tom Holland and Amanda Bearse Talk Fright Night
	Tom Holland: Writing Horror
	Roddy McDowall: From Apes to Bats
	A Beautiful Darkness: The Look of Regine

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	America America	(voice)	Uncredited
1969	Model Shop	Gerry
	Changes	Roommate
1970	A Walk in the Spring Rain	Boy
1972	Josie's Castle	Leonard Robbins
1983	Psycho II	Deputy Norris
2009	The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited	Charles Brewster	Mockumentary short film
2010	Hatchet II	Bob
2014	Digging Up the Marrow	Himself
2015	Clowntown	The Clown with No Name	Short film
TBA	The Tarot	Uncle Walter

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Notes
1986	Amazing Stories	Yes	No	No	Episode: "Miscalculation"
1989-1992	Tales from the Crypt	Yes	Yes	No	Directed episodes: "Lover Come Hack to Me" & "King of the Road" Written and directed episode: "Four-Sided Triangle"
1991	The Owl	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unsold pilot
1995	The Langoliers	Yes	Yes	No	Miniseries
2007	Masters of Horror	Yes	No	No	Episode: "We All Scream for Ice Cream"
2013	Twisted Tales	Yes	Yes	Yes	Web series (9 episodes)

TV movies

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
1978	The Initiation of Sarah	No	Story
1990	The Stranger Within	Yes	No
1992	Two-Fisted Tales	Yes	No	Segment "King of the Road"
2006	The Initiation of Sarah	No	Story

Web short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer
2006	Driven	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	5 or Die	Yes	No	Yes

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	Telephone Time	Millsap	Episode: "Trail Blazer"
1964	77 Sunset Strip	Al Killian	Episode: "Lover's Lane"
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Vic Burns	Episode: "Out on the Outskirts of Town"
1965-1966	A Flame in the Wind	Steve Reynolds #2	50 episodes
1967	Combat!	Pfc. Tommy Bishop	Episode: "Entombed"
1968	Felony Squad	LeRoy Baker	Episode: "Epitaph for a Cop"
1969	My Friend Tony	Urknown	Episode: "The Hazing"
	The Young Lawyers	David Harrison	Episode: "Pilot"
	Medical Center	Jess Yarnaby	Episode: "24 Hours"
1978	The Incredible Hulk	Steve Silva	Episode: "Another Path"
1983	The Winds of War	Devilfish Sub Captain	Episode: "Into the Maelstrom"
1991	The Owl	Mugger	Television pilot, appears uncredited in extended international version
1994	The Stand	Carl Hough	2 episodes
1995	The Langoliers	Harker	2 episodes
2007	Masters of Horror	Funeral Guest	Episode: "We All Scream for Ice Cream"
2010	Team Unicorn	Grandpa	Episode: "A Very Zombie Holiday"
2013	Twisted Tales	Himself / Janitor	Web series (9 episodes)
2015	20 Seconds to Live	Bystander	Episode: "Evil Doll"

Film	Rotten Tomatoes score
The Beast Within (1982)	13%[41]
Class of 1984 (1982)	75%[42]
Psycho II (1983)	61%[43]
Scream for Help (1984)	—
Cloak & Dagger (1984)	64%[44]
Fright Night (1985)	91%[45]
Fatal Beauty (1987)	23%[46]
Child's Play (1988)	69%[47]
The Temp (1993)	29%[48]
The Langoliers (1995)	50%[49]
Thinner (1996)	16%[50]
Fright Night (2011)	72%[51]
Rock Paper Dead (2017)	—

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1984	Edgar Award	Best Motion Picture	Psycho II	Nominated
1986	Dario Argento Award	Best Film	Fright Night	Won
	Critics' Award	Special Mention		Won
	International Fantasy Film Award	Best Film		Nominated
	Saturn Award	Best Director		Nominated
		Best Horror Film		Won
		Best Writing		Won
1990	Saturn Award	Best Horror Film	Child's Play	Nominated
		Best Writing Shared with Don Mancini and John Lafia		Nominated
1996	Saturn Award	Best Television Presentation	The Langoliers	Nominated

• Tom Holland at IMDb